Take These Broken Wings
by ILUVGREYS-101
Summary: SPOILERS FOR 3x13! A personal vendetta, a one time chance, a unsolved case all leads to this! Can Castle and Beckett find her mother's killer or will this herald the end on the unsolved mystery.
1. Chapter 1

Take These Broken Wings - Chapter 1

Castle and Beckett

A/N- MAJOR SPOILERS! If you haven't seen the promo for 'Knockdown' and you don't want to be spoiled don't read this.

Kate Beckett walked into the break room to start what seemed like a normal day, little did she know this day could change her life forever.

"Yo, Beckett. There's a Carl Taylor on the phone for you, says he needs to tell you something, says it's important." Esposito yelled from his desk.

"Thanks" she replied, Carl Taylor, she scanned her mind, she didn't know of a Carl Taylor. She picked up the phone. "Beckett" she answered.

"Detective, meet me at the corner of 44th and Lex, I have information about your mother's killer." Just like that her world shattered again. She opemed her mouth to reply but before she could the line went dead and all she could hear was the dial tone ringing in her ear.

"Beckett you okay?" Castle asked

"No" she answered, she had to go, she had to find this son of a bitch. She had waited eleven years to find her mother's killer.

"Road trip, Castle. Let's go." she yelled, wait a minute why was she taking Castle? Maybe because she needed him. No, who was she kidding she did this before Castle and she would be doing it long after he decided to move on.

"Where are we going?" he asked. She dragged him on the elevator.

"Look, that phone call was about someone who said they had something on my mother's case, if I tell Montgomery he won't let me go and I have to know. I have to do this for her." she responded, "I'm trusting you Castle, don't make me regret it." she said exiting the elevator.

"Are you sure about this Beckett?" he asked

"Hell no, but it's my only shot." she said biting her lip like she did when she was nervous. She opened the car door and got in. She took a deep breath and started the engine. This was it.

They arrived about twenty minutes later. She walked in the diner that was on the corner and looked around.

"Who do you think he is Castle?" she asked, he was good at reading people, that's why she brought him, hell he read her like a book. That was one of the things she couldn't stand. he had this way of getting inside her and telling her things sometimes she couldn't even admit to her self.

"Bald guy with the tan trench coat. That's my guess" he replied, the guy turned around and Castle realized he had said that a little loud. He waved them over.

"Detective Beckett, I presume?" he said, she nodded, her stomach was doing sommersaults by now. Her and Castle sat down across from him.

"What do you know about my mother's case?"

"Listen to me detective, this case, it's way bigger than what you think. There's nothing more dangerous than a killer with a badge." he said, she looked at him questioningly. He was about to say something else when she saw a gun, a sniper and then BOOM. She heard glass shatter, she pulled Castle down. She looked up, no he did not get shot, no this wasn't happening again.

"Somebody Call 911" she shouted

"Beckett are you okay?" Castle asked. She nodded and pulled Carl up fom the table and felt for a pulse. It was useless, he was dead. She heard ths sirens and she felt Castle put his ram around her shoulder but all she could think about were his last words.

'There's nothing more dangerous than a killer with a badge'


	2. Chapter 2

Take These Broken Wings- Chapter 2

Castle and Beckett

She felt Castle pull her out onto the sidewalk. "Beckett, are you okay?" he grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward him.

"He was going to tell me something about my mother's case and now he's dead" she said with a tears streaming down her eye.

"Beckett" the Captain called out. He approached her. "You want to give me one good reason you came out here alone, without telling anyone, you could have gotten yourself killed and it would have been my ass. Sending a cop out to a meeting to a guy we have no clue about and without back up! You're lucky nothing happened to you all. Are you crazy?" he yelled.

"Sir" she protested but he held his hand up.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't write you up for this." he said.

"It was about my mother's case sir." she replied hanging her head.

"Damn, why didn't you tell us?" he asked

"I knew you wouldn't let me go and I had to sir, i have to know." she said

"Look if you think you can handle this, i'll let you because your one of my best detectives but don't pull this shit ever again." he said sternly.

"Yes sir" she said walking towards the crime scene, Castle started to follow but Montgomery held him back.

"Castle, she's vulnerable and she will do anything to catch this guy , you've been on enough investigations to know what's right and wrong. I dont' want to get a call saying my best detective is dead." he warned.

"yes sir" he replied and then walked to the crime scene. He knew what Montgomery was asking him and he'd be damned if she didn't come out of this alive because there were only 3 people in his life he's take a bullet for and she definatly made the short list.

"OKay Lanie, let's hear it." Beckett said

"Carl Taylor, age 69, single GSW to the brain, shot and killed instantly" she said.

"Okay, get him back to the morgue, let me know if you find something. Ryan, Esposito, I want CSU to sweep every inch of this place, especially that right corner where I saw the sniper. Also i want all of Carl's financials, anything that might lead us to a connection beetween him and my mother. Castle and i are going back to the precinct." she said

When they got back she sat down at her desk and pulled open the bottom drawer. Castle watched as she pulled out her mother's file, he always wondered why she never opened that drawer. He sat down in his chair.

"Were going to find him Beckett, I can feel it." he said

"I hope you're right on this Castle, I hope you're right." she said


	3. Chapter 3

Take These Broken Wings- Chapter 3

Castle and Beckett

A/N- So someone brought it to my attention that Carl Taylor should be Det. raglin but I am not going to go back and change that small detail so think of him as Det. Raglin. Sorry if this causes any confusion.

Kate sat at her desk hunched over her mother's file with Castle looking for anything that my tie this murder to her mothers. She felt like she could drop over at any moment but she vowed not to quit until this killer was behind bars.

"Beckett, i'm going for coffee, you want some?" Castle asked, he could see the exhaustion in her face and he's pretty sure she could see it in his.

"Castle, you should go home. You look like hell." she stated.

"I am not leaving you, when you go I go." he replied, she smiled. He really was a great friend, he was always there for her no matter what. She couldn't help but wonder why Josh hadn't called, they were suppost to meet fot dinner but she knew when he called she would cancel. Speaking of, her cell phone chirped.

"Beckett" she barked from her phone.

"Hey babe, you ready for dinner?" he asked

"Josh listen, i'm going to have to cancel. I have this really big case and Castle and i need to work over." she said, she felt bad for canceling but she had to.

"You and Castle, you know you two seem pretty close these days." he stated

"Josh please, let's not have this fight now okay?" she asked but didn't wait for a reply because her desk phone started ringing. "I'll talk to you tommorow" she said before hanging up.

"uh, oh, troube in paradise" Castle smirked, she glared at him before picking up the phone. After she was done on the phone, her and Castle started to work on putting togather a murder board, he would get the pictures in line and she would write the facts as he would read them to her.

"Okay Castle, so we know that Dick Coonan was the one who killed my mother but the question is who hired him and is the same person who killed my mother the sniper from this morning?" she said aloud.

Her phone chirped again. "Beckett" she answered. It was CSU to tell her they found one print and they ran it which leads them to a man named Mark Stalovich.

"Ryan, look up this guy's address, Esposito, i want a background check anything you can find on this guy I want to know." she ordered, she grabbed her coat.

"Ryan, you got that address yet?" she asked, she knew she had barley given him a minute but she needed it fast.

"450 W. 33. street, New York City , NY" he said, she locked her gun in place and stepped onto the elevator.

"Ryan, Esposito" she acknowledged "Castle and I will meet you there" she said.

When they arrived at the apartment, she told Castle to open up her glove compatrment.

"Yike's Beckett, do you keep a gun everywhere?' he asked

"Haha, I keep them everywhere so I can shoot you if need be." That was the first joke she said all day, she was keeping her head up but he knew she was nervous as hell on the inside. Dammit where were Ryan and Esposito, they should be here by now. She heard her phone beep, it was a text from Ryan.

'B, Accident on main highway, had to pull over to help. Called back up. R ' the text read. Damn, she wasn;t waiting. Screw the back up.

"Castle, take the back up gun and let's go." she ordered.

"Aren't we going to wait for back up?" he asked

"No, were going in alone." she replied


	4. Chapter 4

Take These Broken Wings- Chapter 4

Castle and Beckett

"Beckett, we need to wait. Please don't do this" he said stepping in front of her.

"Castle move" she ordered, he shook his head.

"Castle move" she ordered again, he shook his head again.

"Castle, i am going in there with or without you, so you can move and come with me or I can physically move you and you can sit in the car. What's it going to be?" she yelled.

"Okay, let's go" he said, damn Montgomery was going to kill him.

She walked to the door and looked at Castle, he nodded. "On three" she mouthed.

She held up one finger, then two and finally three before Castle heard the loud burst that was her breaking down the door.

"NYPD, if there's anyone here you better come out." she yelled.

No one showed, she looked around, then she saw it, it was her mother's charm bracelet.

"Oh god" she said, tears formed in her eyes. She put her gloves on to pick it up. "It's my mother's charm bracelet." she said. "When her and my dad got married he gave this to her the night of the wedding, I remember each year he and I used to go out and pick a charm to give her for their anniversary. When she was murdered, we could never find it, we searched the house up and down for it but we didn't know she was wearing it." Castle saw the tears streaming down her face. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Then they heard footsteps and somone watching him from the door.

"Police" she shouted and the man took off.

"Castle cover the fire escape" she shouted as she ran after him. he practically jumped the stairs to get to the bottom, almost tripped over an old lady's walker and finally arrived just to see him fleeing. He ran after him.

"NYPD STOP" he yelled, the guy tripped and Castle had his foot on his back and a gun to his head before Kate could blink.

"Don't move, you bastard." he yelled. Then Kate saw the police cars and Montgomery ran out.

"Beckett, Castle?" he raised his eyebrow at the picture of Castle on the ground.

"Castle um, tackled him sir." she explained.

"Well then, nice work." he said relieving Castle of the suspect and reading him his Miranda Rights.

Kate walked over to Castle, who was talking to Ryan and Esposito.

"Can i talk to you for a second?' she asked

"What's up" he asked

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me today and also I wanted to ask you if you would be with me when I interogate him tonight. I know you haven't been home in days and If you can't that's fine I just.." she was stuttering, he cut her off.

"There's no place i'd rather be." he said and squeezed her hand. She smiled, she liked the way his hand felt in hers.

"Detective, we need to talk." the sound of Montgomery's voice startled her and she quickly pulled her hand away from Castle's.

"Sir, I can explain" she said.

"I'm sure you can, listen Beckett, I can't keep putting you or your team at risk. This is your last warning, if this happens again, I will pull you off this case so fast you won't be able to give me any excuses." he warned.

"Castle, way to go" he winked and Castle smiled and then Montgomery walked away.

"What do you two have planned against me?" she asked, smirking.

"Oh nothing you need to worry that pretty little head of yours about." he smiled and walked away.

'oh so he wants to play like that huh? Two can play that game.'


	5. Chapter 5

Take These Broken Wings- Chapter 5

Castle and Beckett

Back at the precinct Kate and Rick were preparing for their interogation, Rick was changing his clothes because he had dirt all over him from from tackling their suspect and Beckett was taking a shower because she hadn't been home in two days. She walked out of the shower room into the locker room where she found Castle shirtless.

"Ah" she screamed "Castle what are you doing here?"

"I, I, I" he stammered, god she was beautiful, her hair was wet and dripping and she had a towel wrapped around her but it didn't cover everything.

"Esposito told me he had and extra shirt in his locker, gave me the combination, I thought i was in the guy's locker room." he stated "Obviously not" he pointed up and down her body.

"Yeah, it's um, two doors down." damn why was she stuttering. He was pretty hot with out a shirt, wait what was she talking about. She was with Josh.

"Yeah well, i'll just go." he said walking out but not before he knocked his head against the door frame. She chuckled as he walked out rubbing his head.

Once they were both clothed, the were ready to face the interrogation that Kate had waited eleven years for.

"Mr. Stalovich, I'm Detective Beckett, this is " she stated.

"Hey baby" he said.

"Have a seat" she shrugged off his comment.

"What can i do for you beautiful?" he asked

"You can tell my why we found your prints on a spot we placed a sniper in." she asked

"Well I wish I could tell you,but i'm afraid I don't know what your talking about." he said smirking.

"i think you do, I think that you've been hiding all along, I think you heard that the Carl was going to talk to me about my mother's killer and you got scared, had to cover your ass. So you killed Carl Taylor and hoped you killed him before he could tell me anything about my mother's murder" she yelled.

"Beckett? I thought that name sounded familiar." he smirked.

She pulled out picture of her mother. "Tell me you don't remember her" she dared him.

"She was tasty" he said and smirked and before Castle could even blink she threw this guy against the mirror and broke the glass. Castle jumped up and tried to pull her off him.

"Beckett, let go of him." he yelled, he saw Ryan and Esposito come through the door but he waved them back, he knew she had to do this on her own.

"Beckett, let go of him. Come on, you don't want to do this." he pulled her back and she fell into his embrace,but still not completly letting go of him, he looked up at the guy who was smirking and it took everything he had not to finish him off but he controlled himself.

"Kate, let him go" he asked more gently this time. It was the first time he ever called her Kate. She let go of him all the way. He pulled her out of the room. He walked her to the breakroom, holding her hand all of the time.

When she got into the breakroom, she broke down, she threw things and tears were running down her face. He pulled the glass she was getting ready to throw, out of her hand and pulled her into his arms, he was fully expecting to get smacked but to his suprise she let him hold her.

"Shh, it's going to be okay" he kissed the top of her fore head. Once she got herself composed she decided it was time to face the real world. She opened the door to the breakroom with Castle behind her.

"Detective" Montgomery approached her. " I need to see you and Castle in my office" he ordered.

Once they were in his office he sat down and Kate knew she was done on this case, she had just blew it.

"I warned you Detective, I can't have my best detective falling apart like this. I know it's your mother but I just can't have it. Any good Captain would pull you off this case but I know how hard you've worked for this moment so i'm going to let you finish the interogation if you want to but Castle has to be with you. From what i've seen he's beenhelping you through this and I know that with him you can do this." he said, Castle who was standing in the corner with his head down smiled to himself while Kate shook Montgomery's hand. She looked at Castle and squeezed his hand.

"Beckett, one more thing. Don't make me regret this." he ordered.

"Absolutly not, sir" she said smiling.

When Castle and her left Montgomery's office she had her full composure back and she was ready to finish her interogation.

"Let's do this Castle" she said, she looked down to see her hand still entwined in Castle's, then she heard her phone chirp, it was Josh.


	6. Chapter 6

Take These Broken Wings- Chapter 6

Castle and Beckett

She quickly oulled her hand away from Castle's and looked at her caller I.D on her phone, she really didn't have time to argue with Josh right now. She hit the ignore button and looked up at Castle's questioning face.

"It's nothing, i'm busy" she argued.

She took a deep breath and stepped into the intergoation room.

"What do you mean when you say she was tasty?" she asked the words barley coming out of her mouth before the tears welled up in her eyes again. Castle could see it so he started questioning the guy.

"Answer the question" he said raising his voice.

"Look, I don't know what you talking about?' he said smiling.

She slammed her hands down on the table. "The hell you don't. Tell me, what did you mean when you said that Joahnna Beckett was tasty?" she asked. "Why was her charm barcelet in your apartment?" she questioned.

"Look Mr. Stalovich, you're already looking at ten to twenty years, you'd be best to tell us what you know." Castle said.

"All I know is that I didn't kil your mother, I did however kill Carl Taylor." he said

"Then who did?" she asked.

"The partner of Carl Taylor, he was a cop. His partner was Dan Stomack." he said

"Then why was her charm bracelet in your apartment?" she asked

"Because back then I was still a trainee, so before he killed her he told me to take somehting of her's as a souvinir." he explained, Beckett's stomach was in whirls and she felt dizzy,. Castle could tell so he urged her to sit down.

"So Dan Stoamck, Carls Taylor's partner, why would he want to kill my mother?' she asked.

"Because your mother was a lawyer yes?" he asked, she nodded.

"She wouldn't put away Fawn Larson, he was a guy that Stomack and Taylor and been building a case against for years and when they finally had enough evidence she wouldn't put him away." he told them.

"I remember my mother telling me about that case right before she was murdered." she recalled. "They didn't have enough evidence that was lugidament, she was on their side they just needed more evidence." she said her voice cracking with every word.

"Look, I was just a trainee back then, I didn't know or I never would have helped." he said

"So what does that make you now? A professional killer" she stated before walking out.

She ran straight to the nearest garbage can and threw up. Castle rubbed ciricles on her back and then handed her a tissue to wipe her mouth. She gained her composure and stood up straight.

"Okay, so we know that Carl taylor was murdered by Mark Stalovich and my mother was ordered dead by Dan Stomack, that's what Carl Taylor meant when he said 'theres nothing more dangerous that a killer with a badge', he was talking about a cop, his partner." she realized. 'Ryan, Esposito I want everything you have on this guy. Now." she ordered.

She walked into the break room and took a deep breath. "You okay?" Castle asked

"No, I dont' think I can do this. Maybe Montgomery was right, I should just hand this over to some other Detective who doesn't have any personal involvement." She stated, tears falling down her face.

"Hey, where's the Kate Beckett I know" he lifted her chin. "The Beckett who doesn't give up without a fight." he said "She's hardcore and she doesn't let anybody run over her." he said.

"She left the moment my mother's case was reopened." Castle had an idea, he pulled her out of the break room and into the elevator.

"Castle, where are we going?" she asked but he didn't reply. "Castle, we can't just leave in the middle of an investigation." she stated.

"There's nothing you can do here, Ryan and Esposito will call you when they have something." he stated.

"Can I at least pee?" she asked, he laughed and nodded but not before offering to hold her purse. When she was in the bathroom, he pulled out her callphone and called the number for Jim Beckett.

"Hello" someone answered.

"Hi, Mr. Beckett, this is Richard Castle, I work with Kate." Castle explained.

"Yes, i've heard alot about you.' he said.

"Good I hope" he teased

"Mostly, so what can i do for you Mr. Castle?" he asked

"Well I don't know if you know but we found a lead on your wife's case and she's having a really hard time and I was hoping I could bring her by." he asked

"Of course" he gave Castle the address to a diner and then hung up. he said it would be quicker to meet there than drive all the way out of the city plus, Jim was already in the city doing some shopping. Castle quickly tucked away Beckett's phone in her purse before she came out of the restroom. On the drive there Beckett would not stop about where they were going. She had let him drive for once because he refused to tell her their destination.

He pulled up in fron of the diner to see Jim Beckett waiting in front of the door.

"Castle, how did you know?" she asked, estounded.

"Oh your dad and I had a nice chat while you were in the bathroom?' he smiled and she smiled back.

"If this wasn't so sweet I would kill you for taking my phone." he smiled, she opened up the car door and got out but before she shut it she said "Thanks Castle, for everything.' she smiled and walked around into her dad's arms.

In the diner Kate sat down with her dad, she smiled but she couold feel the tears threatening to pour over.

"Katie, what's going on?"he asked

"She was killed because she wouldn't put someone away" she said before the tears came.

"Katie, I don't understand. Tell me sweetie." he said

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, then continued to tell im the whole story.

"She was a good woman Katie bear." he said, she smiled. He called her the pet name he and her mother used to use as a child. He wrapped her arms around her.

"Your mom would have been proud, Katie bear, she would have been so proud." she leaned into her dads arms and thought about her mom.


End file.
